Wang and Gagne Given One More Shot

There were two minor signings yesterday. The Nationals signed Chien Ming Wang and the Dodgers signed Eric Gagne. I figured to lop these two signings in one post because they are very similar. Both are fighting to continue their careers. Although it might be easier for Wang, who signed a major league deal worth $2 million, at least has a MLB contract. Eric Gagne was signed to a 500K minor league deal.

Wang is an interesting pickup and at just $2 million, not a terribly bad bet. He is clearly not the 19 game winner after his surgery, however he is not in the pressure cooker that is the New York media. Essentially he is in a no pressure situation. He just needs to keep the Nationals in games. If he has a 5.00 ERA it’s fine, it’s not like the Nats have someone in the wings waiting for him to trip up.

As for Gagne, this is the last stop. He was released by Milwaukee in 2008 because of a shoulder injury. He spent most of last year as a starting pitcher / coach for the Quebec Capitales on the CAM-AM baseball league. He went 6-6/4.65/1.38 in 17 starts. At 500K, why not? He should at least break camp in AAA and should be called up at some point during the season. He might even be able to break camp with the Dodgers. Make no bones about it, if he fails in Spring Training he will more than likely retire.

As for the two players’ hobby values, they have taken a beating over the past two years. Gagne’s certified autographs are commons. You can find many different version of his autograph for $1 each. The card below I got for $1 on eBay last year. Wang’s cards are still worth a ton of money. The card below, which is one of his more affordable autographed cards ran $51 recently on eBay. Most of his cards run in the $50 – $100 range depending on if he signed in Chinese or in English and the size of the release.